Corsair HX750W Power Supply Review

Introduction:

The HX750W is Corsair's latest addition to its power supply line and joins the other modular units in the HX family. What are the advantages and disadvantages, if any, to a modular design? I have seen some modular power supply designs with a full set of modular cables, including the motherboard and ATX12V/EPS12V cables. All ATX based motherboards need a 20/24 motherboard connector and an auxiliary processor supply of some description, so making these modular makes little sense. A captive 20/24-pin motherboard connector and usually a 4+4-pin ATX12V/EPS12V connector is how most manufacturers design its modular units. One obvious advantage of the modular power supply is the option to use only the cables that are needed to supply power to the installed hardware. This in turn helps to keep the enclosure a little tidier, thus improving air flow and cooling. Cable management, a little time spent routing and fixing the cables, can improve cooling further and make things look much cleaner. Volt drop in the extra plug and socket that is introduced into the circuit is often cited as a disadvantage of the modular power supply. I have measured this volt drop on a fully loaded power supply and it is only in the order of a few tens of millivolts, so can it make a difference? Go out and buy two identical power supplies, measure the rail voltages and I guarantee they won't be same. Component tolerances will always lead to small rail voltage differences between two identical power supplies, so does losing a few tens of millivolts across a connector really matter? I'll let you answer that one. Think about it while you are reading this review from start to finish.

"Corsair Professional Series power supplies set a new standard by which all premium PSUs must be judged. Designed and engineered using cutting-edge technology, each Corsair Professional Series power supply is built to the highest quality standards, and delivers the features and performance that technology enthusiast's demand."

Corsair has been manufacturing memory for servers, high-end workstations and the gaming PC market since 1994. Its product range has grown over the years and alongside its extensive range of memory modules, the company now offers solid state and USB drives, computer cases and fans, water cooled memory blocks, and power supplies. The CX400 at 400 watts to the HX1000 at 1000 watts, with several in between, make up the current Corsair power supply range. I have tested three of them already for OCC, the HX520W, TX750W and the HX1000W, and they all performed very well. Let's see how well the HX750W can perform.

Closer Look:

The packaging on the Corsair HX750W follows what is a fairly standard design used for all its power supplies. This time around the theme is blue and black with the occasional splash of color. The top of the box shows a photograph of the modular connector panel along with the model number in large clear text, Nvidia SLI Ready logo and a 7 year warranty icon. The underside of the box shows the technical details, specification table, fan noise against loading graph, and an efficiency graph at 115VAC and 230VAC. The "Corsair Advantages" are listed in five different languages along with a photograph to illustrate each point. A photograph along the bottom shows the power supply with modular cables connected.

A short paragraph on one side panel, again in five different languages, explaining the advantages of the modular design and how the use of flat modular cables will help maximise airflow through the computer chassis.

Photographs of all the available connectors and quantities appear on the front panel, while the Corsair HX750W feature list is on the back panel, again in five different languages.

A black Velcro seal bag containing all the modular cables sits neatly down the side of the power supply's black foam envelope, on which the user manual lays. Lift off the foam lid and the power supply is contained in a black velvet draw string bag.

Below, you can see the cloth-enclosed power supply showing the captive 20/24-pin motherboard and EPS12V 4+4-pin cables and connectors held together with a black wire tie. You can also see the complete box contents, showing the modular cable bag, user manual, AC power cord, and a small plastic bag containing four mounting screws, cable ties and Corsair case badge. You will also see a small bag of silica gel to keep things moisture free.

Box design, packaging and contents are excellent and, if it in any way reflects on the contents, then the HX750W should perform very well.